Trillium erectum-Plant feature for Spring

Trillium erectum

By Barbara Harrison Certified Blue Ridge Naturalist

Trilliums are one of my favorite Spring ephemerals and I was looking forward to seeing them on the Blue Ridge Naturalist Network Annual Spring Wildflower walk to Baxter /Big Creek in the Great Smokey Mountains and we certainly did. On this walk we saw 77 species of wildflowers and one species I was excited to see was Trillium erectum, also known as Wake-robin or “Stinking Willie”. Like all trilliums its parts are in groups of three (3)-3 leaves, 3 petals, 3 sepals. The flowers of this species can be maroon or white and we saw groupings of the white variety on the Baxter Creek trail.

The species name erectum refers to the erect flower stalk and the name “Stinking Willie” refers to the pungent odor of the flowers which has been described as smelling like a wet dog. As with other flowers that have a fetid odor, “Stinking Willie” trilliums are pollinated by various kinds of flies and beetles attracted to carrion and other foul-smelling deposits.

As with all Trilliums, and other early blooming Spring flowers, the growing exposure of the sun during early spring, increases the photosynthesis of the plant, and the sugars produced are stored in the leaves. These sugars are the source of nutrients for the development of the fruit in summer. Seeds within the fruit mature in mid-late summer and are then dispersed by ants.

Trillium erectum can be found on wooded slopes at mid to high elevations. Throughout April and early May, many coves at lower elevations in the Smokey Mountains have stunning displays of these elegant three-petaled flowers with their stately three leaves, a sure sign that Spring has finally arrived in the mountains.